Collapsible container



June 17, 1952 M. SLOANE 2,600,439

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed Jan. 26, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS June 17, 1952 SLQANE 2,600,439

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed Jan. 26, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORN EYSThe top wire 23a has pivot loops which abut the undersides of thetransverse top members 20 and 20a, at the junctions or bends betweensaid transverse members 20 and 20a, and the front end-uprights Ma andIlia. Hence the front longitudinal wall I3 cannot shift upwardlyrelative to the transverse walls II and II).

The intermediate wire 23a has loops which overlie and abut therespective ends of the transverse wires lfia and Ila, so that the frontwall I3 cannot shift downwardly relative to the side walls Ii and In.Each wire 23a has a pivot loop at each end thereof, and said pivot loopsturnably engage the front end-uprights Ida and Ma, so that the frontwall I3 is turnable as a unitrelative to side walls II and Ill.

The bottom wire 23a cannot shift vertically relative to the side-wallsII and I0, becausesaid bottom wire 23a is fixed to the uprights I8,which are fixed to all the wires 23a. The bottom wire 23a is thus heldabove the bottom ends of the end-uprights I 4a and Illa, and above theends of the transverse bottom members I50: and I5. The rear longitudinalwall I2 comprises three horizontal rods or wires Ito, and three uprightsI6. The previous description of the structure of front longitudinal wallI3 applies, since walls i3 and I4 are identical. The drawings are of anactual device and to scale, so that reference is made thereto forfurther disclosure.

The bottom wires 23a and IBa are in the same horizontal plane, which isabove the bottom of the outer container Ca.

The uprights I8 and I6 of the front and rear walls l3 and I2 arearranged in transversely alined pairs, and the uprights I9 and I! of theside walls II and I are arranged in longitudinally alined pairs. Eachrod or wire 23a is in the same horizontal plane as a respective rodorwire Ito, and the rods or wires I9a and Na are in the same horizontalplane.

In the first embodiment, the bottom wall I4 comprises five longitudinalrods or wires 23, and three transverse wires 2Ia. Each transverse wire2Ia has a pivot loop 24 at its front end, whichturnably engages thebottom wire 23a of the front wall I3. Said bottom wire 23a may beslightly reduced at each hinge or pivot 24, so that the loops 24 cannotshift longitudinally on bottom wire 23a. verse wire 2Ia has a bent end2i in the first embodiment. The free end-portion of each wire 2Ia abutsthe bottom wire [to in the first embodiment, in the position of bottom.wall I4 of Fig. 1, with the bent ends 2| extending below bottom wire[6a.

When the bottom wall I I is horizontally located as shown in Fig. 1, theouter container is held against collapsing, because the transverse wires2 I a are held against substantial horizontal longitudinal shifting bythe uprights I6 of the rear longitudinal wall I2 and by theloop-extension of the bottom rod I60, which wholly and loosely embracesthe end-upright or vertical leg lob; this is clearly illustrated in Fig.2 at the right-hand end of the figure. Hence, although the bottom is ofless length than the internal length of the walls I2 and I3, it is heldagainst material shifting movement lengthwise of such walls when theassembly is in its set-up or erect position, being held by both suchwalls. When the bottom is shifted to the collapsed position, the ends 2|are released from such position,-but the condition remains with respectto wall. l the bottom and the lower rod of wall It co perat- At its rearend, each transa 4 ing in both set-up and collapsed conditions inproducing this result.

The uprights I9, IS, IT, and it have top parts which extend above thetop members 230. and Iiia of the respective longitudinal walls I3 andI2, and the top portion of each said upright I9, 58, I1, and I6 is bentor otherwise shaped to provide double thickness and a blunt end, like aball or the like.

A flexible inner bag or receptacle C, made of flexible cloth or thelike, has eyelets H, by means of which said bag C can be supported onthe top parts of the uprights I9, I8, I1, and I6, which project abovethe top members of the up standing walls. The bottom of bag C may besupported on the wires or rods 23, or it may be located above said wiresor rods 23.

In order to collapse the outer container, it is merely necessary to turnthe bottom wall I4 upwardly to the broken line position which is shownin Fig. 3. Each side wall II and I0 is then freely turnable around avertical axis rel ative to the longitudinal Walls I3 and I2. The widthof bottom wall I4 preferably exceeds the height of the upstanding walls.

In the modification shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the bent ends 2| of thebottom transverse wires Zla are omitted.

In this second embodiment, the bottom wire Ilia of the rear wall I2 isprovided with an upstanding detent 50, which is generally of invertedU-shape. This detent 56 has a horizontal leg, and it has two verticallegs which are fixed to bottom wire I 60;. This detent 50 is vertical.

When the bottom wall I4 is forced into its operative horizontalposition, the detent '50 is located between the two intermediatetransverse wires 2Ia. That is, Fig. 8 shows that the single intermediatewire 2Ia of the first embodiment is replaced by two intermediate wires2Ia.

The vertical legs of detent 50 abut or are very close to the proximatefaces of said intermediate wires 2Ia, when wall Hi is in its operativehorizontal position.

This locks the outer container against collapsing, and it also preventslongitudinal horizontal shifting of the wall I4. It is advantageous toomit the projecting bent ends 2i, so that all the parts of the outercontainer are free from projecting, pointed parts.

As with the first form the bottom wall, of the modification is of lesslength than the internal length of the walls I2 and I3. However, thecooperating means between the bottom and such walls is changed to someextent from that shown in Fig. 2. As indicatedin Fig. 8, the outertransverse rods of the bottom are both positioned on the outer side ofvertical rods I8 so that the latter are actually located between suchend rods and will, therefore, prevent shifting of the bottom walllongitudinally of wall I3 at all times, detent 59 being operative toprevent shift relative to wall I2 when the assemblage is in its set-upcondition, it being obvious that in both forms it is necessary torelease wall I2 from such holding conditions when the assemblage is tobe collapsed, since wall I2 must move with the ends during thecollapsing movements.

Each of the five walls I3, I2, II, III and I4 is a skeleton wall, eachof which comprises a plurality of connected metal members. The verticalwalls I3, I2, II and Ill are turnably connected to each other at theirrespective common vertical edges, at which the uprights Hit, Me, 10b,and Illa are located, .At each said respec,

.5 tive common vertical edge, the vertical walls are arranged inrespective pairs. At each said common edge, one of each respective pairof adjacent vertical walls is provided with a respective upright, whichis turnably embraced by loops which are provided at the ends of metalmembers of the other vertical wall of the respective pair. Thesevertical walls are interlocked against vertical movement relative toeach other. These loops are sufliciently loose and said metal membersare sufliciently thin, so that the container Ca can be collapsed tosubstantially fiat condition.

I claim:

1. An open-top crate of skeleton type for re-= movably supportinglaundry bags and the like with the positioned bag having its top incompletely open position, said crate comprising com= plete opposing endWalls of skeleton type, opposing side walls formed of individual andparallel strands of wire in spaced relation on each side and with eachwire having its end zones looped respectively to vertical members of theadjacent end walls to thereby form a body assemblage of ends and sidesin articulated relation with the assemblage collapsible by movement ofat least three of the four walls relative to such member of the fourthwall and in the direction of length of the wire strands of the sidewalls to bring the assemblage into a collapsed position in which an endwall and an adjacent side wall extend in approximate alinement and inapproximate parallelism with the similarly approximately alinedremaining end and side walls, and a bottom wall of skeleton type and ofless length than the side walls, said bottom wall being hirrgedlycarried by the lower wire strand of one of the side walls and removablysupported by the corresponding wire strand of the opposite side wall formaintaining the service formation of the assemblage, said bottom wallbeing swingable about the hingedly connected first lower wire strand ofa side wall to a position approximately parallel with the side wallcarry= ing such wire strand and thereby releasing such body for itsarticulating movements relative to the side wall bearing such first wireto produce the collapsed parallel relationship with the bottom wallpositioned in a plan-e extending internal of the collapsed assemblage,said bottom wall and one of the side walls having cooperating means forpreventing material shifting movements of the bottom wall longitudinallyrelative to the side wall with which it is pivotally connected. each ofthe side and end walls of the body carrying vertically extending rodsprojecting above the top plane of such frames with the projectingortions of the rods forming supports for the laundry bag when theassemblage is in service.

2. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the bottom wallincludes a pair of parallel transverse rods in spaced relationintermediate the end transverse rods of the bottom, and furthercharacterized in that the lower wire strand of the side wall oppositethat to which the transverse rods are hingedly connected carries anupstanding wire member of inverted U-shape form with its legs spaced toapproximately fit between such intermediate transverse rods to therebyrestrict the bottom against longitudinal movement while the bottom is inservice position and during movements to and from such position withinthe zone represented by the depth of the U- nhape member, the transverseend rods of the bottom wall being positioned in proximity to suchvertically extending rods of the side wall to which the bottom wall ishinged with the end rods outside the vertical rods.

3. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the overall widthof the bottom wall is greater than the vertical height or the side wallsof the body of the assemblage, with the excess of the bottom wall widthprojecting above the top plane of the side walls and through the opentop when the assemblage is in its collapsed condition.

4. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the end walls eachinclude a border member of endless and angular type having opposingvertical portions with which the wire strands of the side walls arearticulated, and further characterized in that the bottom wall includesa pair of rods extending transversely at the ends of the bottom wallwith at least one intermediate rod extending parallel with the end rods,similar ends of said rods having the hinging relation with the lowerwire of one of the side walls and with the bottom wall also havin aplurality of spaced wires extending in parallelism in the direction oflength of the bottom wall between the outer transverse end rods, theassemblage being additionally characterized in that the verticallyextending rods of the side walls include a rod carried by the respectiveend zones of the side wire strands, with the rods positioned in spacedrelation to but in the vicinity of the vertical members of the endwalls, said assemblage having its transverse rods hinged to the sidelower wire strand in the vicinity of and on the same side of theneighboring side vertical rods, with one of the end rods of the bottomwall having its hinging connection with the wire strand between theadjacent vertical portion of the neighboring end wall and the adjacentvertical rod of the side wall to thereby limit the longitudinal shiftingof the bottom wall to the distance between said portion and verticalrod.

5. An assemblage as in claim 4 characterized in that the endless borderof each end frame includes a bottom portion in which the wire is bentupwardly toward the center of the portion at a slight angle to therebypresent the corners of the body portion as having foot equivalents, theupper portion of the border having a handle formation.

MILTON SLOANE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 739,006 Johnson Sept. 15, 19031,171,924 Brown Feb. 15, 1916 1,384,582 Wills -July 12, 1921 1,499,665Kaufman July 1, 1924 1,589,112 Chamberlain June 15, 1926 1,731,841Burson Oct. 15, 1929 1,833,857 Reese Nov. 24, 1931 1,834,541 JohnsonDec. 1, 1931 2,279,247 Pope Apr. 7, 1942 2,529,267 Sloane Nov. 7, 1950FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9.658 Great Britain 1889

